Patty Jenkins to Direct ‘Wonder Woman’ Sequel

It’s a real wonder that Patty Jenkins was not immediately signed up to direct a sequel to “Wonder Woman,” after the film smashed box office records this summer to become the highest-grossing live-action movie directed by a woman. Finally on Monday, after months of speculation and talks, news emerged that Ms. Jenkins would indeed be directing “Wonder Woman 2.”

Ms. Jenkins would not immediately comment on the news, which was confirmed by someone familiar with the deal but not authorized to speak publicly about it. She had already been working with Geoff Johns on a script for the new film, and in June, the studio behind it, Warner Bros., set a release date of Dec. 13, 2019. Gal Gadot will also be returning to star in the title role.

Already a rarity, out of the gate, for being solely about a female superhero, “Wonder Woman” became both a critical hit and a blockbuster, grossing $410 million at the box office domestically — another $405 million worldwide — and landing a 92 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It also birthed a spate of think pieces, with many women saying it was the film they did not know they needed. “I wasn’t directing a woman, I was directing a hero,” Ms. Jenkins said in an interview that ran in The New York Times in June.

According to Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, Ms. Jenkins stands to earn around $8 million for writing, directing and producing the movie, along with a percentage of the box office — a big jump from the $1 million she was paid the first time around.